Just last week, reports surfaced that Facebook is planning to launch a standalone news app that would push content from several media outlets such as The Washington Post, CNN, CBS and Vogue. Fast-forward a week later and the largest social network in the world pushes through the rumours and releases Notify - Facebook's notification app that brings timely notifications in one handy place.
Facebook's Notify makes it easy for its users to find notifications about which content they are interested in. The topics are broad that includes sports, celebrities, news, movies, music and shopping, giving its users plenty of information at hand.
Some of the examples include FOX Sport's Final Scores station that delivers end-game summaries of a user's favourite team; another is the Daily AM Forecast station from The Weather Channel that provides local weather forecast at the beginning of the day. For new movie trailers, Fandango's Hot New Trailer displays the latest ones as they go. CNN's Breaking News and Fox News' Top Stories will take charge for the daily headlines. The list of stations simply goes on.
Users can also create their own mix of notifications by selecting the stations they want to receive updates. Whenever there are relevant updates, different sources will publish notifications through the stations. Furthermore, Notify can give suggestions on what stations to pick based on a Facebook profile, making it easier to discover new stations.
Notify works by delivering notifications straight to a user's lock screen. A quick glance from there will give users straight information without having to scour for it all across the Internet. Should users want to see more, simply tapping on any notification will open a link to the app's browser where they can see more information.
Notify can now be downloaded today in the United States for iPhones, although there's no official word as of yet when Facebook will be bringing its standalone app to Android and other mobile platforms.
